Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs' properties in Miami and Los Angeles were raided by Homeland Security Investigations on Monday in what the Associated Press reported was an investigation into sex trafficking.
The raids have called attention to his recent legal battles—particularly a case filed by record producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones in February that was amended on March 25.
Amid scrutiny, two photos were shared on social media. One appeared to show Combs being escorted by police and another looked like a police mugshot. Neither image, however, is what it might seem.
The Claim
An Instagram post by user riiahworld, posted on March 27, 2024, included two photos of what looked like Sean "Diddy" Combs. One depicted him walking alongside police with his hands behind his back. The other was a portrait picture, similar to a police mugshot. User riiahworld wrote alongside: "dang they got em #diddy #nodiddy."
The Facts
The photos were widely shared on social media. A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @GrimeyCapo, viewed 551,100 times, included the pictures, writing alongside: "Ain't no way this the same Diddy cause who tf is this?! 😂"
On TikTok, user carmynealejondra included riiahworld's Instagram post in a video, adding: "They done cloned diddy."
Newsweek reached out to Combs' media representatives for comment via email at 11:16 a.m. ET March 28, 2024, and provided additional details at 12:04 p.m. ET and 1:11 p.m. ET the same day.
Newsweek also contacted media representatives for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) via email. It did not comment on the photos or whether Combs had been arrested. HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The suspicions that the photos are fake are well-founded. There are many tell-tale signs that the photos were created using either AI image generation or photo editing software.
An identifying feature of Combs that is different in these pictures are his ears. In the picture of Combs alongside police, the shape of the cartilage around the middle of his ear is bent in a different direction compared to genuine photos of him taken relatively recently.
Zooming in on the image, his ear lobe is rigidly and unnaturally horizontal. A shadow under his ear does not match the lighting conditions of the picture, either.
Other odd details include his beard, which doesn't run along his jawline. His jawline is also undefined from his neck. There's a necklace on the left side of his neck that does not run along the right. His face also sits lower on his head than in authentic pictures.
Other background details also indicate the photo has been AI-generated.
The right eye of what looks like a police officer behind Combs is smudged into the shading around the face. The same officer is wearing a tie that has no knot, with two uneven tie clips attached to it. Further down the photo, a section of the officer's torso seems to be missing.
The police officer on Combs' right also has an errant tie clip attached beneath a lapel, seemingly unconnected to his blazer. These kinds of unusual artifacts are common giveaways in artificial image generation.
There are similar inconsistencies in the portrait picture of Combs.
Again, his face is lower on his head than in genuine photos, and his ears are shaped differently. His forehead is higher and more pulled back than in other pictures. He is also wearing different clothes than in the photo of him with police.
All of these inconsistencies are even more apparent when compared to an actual mugshot photo of Combs taken in 1999 and a more recent portrait taken at the 2020 pre-Grammy Gala.
The Instagram user who posted the pictures, riiahworld, has also posted other AI- or photoshop-generated pictures of Combs alongside many other AI-generated images.
Newsweek sent the photos to UC Berkeley image analysis and digital forensics expert professor Hany Farid who said he was "confident" that the photos were AI-generated.
"In addition to showing several tell-tale structural defects typical of AI-generated images, I analyzed these images with a technique trained to distinguish real from AI-generated images, and this analysis detects telltale patterns of AI synthesis," Farid said.
Combs has been hit by multiple sexual assault lawsuits in recent months, with court documents accusing the rapper of soliciting sex workers and trafficking underage girls.
The rapper's attorney, Aaron Dyer, told Newsweek in a statement on Tuesday that the recent raids on properties in Los Angeles and Miami were "a gross overuse of military-level force" and "a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits."
The Ruling
False.
Both images are fake. They have many telltale signs of AI image generation, including facial features inconsistent with genuine pictures of Sean "Diddy" Combs and other unusual background elements. An image analysis and digital forensic expert told Newsweek he was confident the photos were AI-generated.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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